RENEWABLE RESOURCES!
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy, accounting for 16 percent of global electricity generation – 3,427 terawatt-hours of electricity production in 2010,[1] and is expected to increase about 3.1% each year for the next 25 years.
Hydropower is produced in 150 countries, with the Asia-Pacific region generating 32 percent of global hydropower in 2010. China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 721 terawatt-hours of production in 2010, representing around 17 percent of domestic electricity use. There are now four hydroelectricity stations larger than 10 GW: the Three Gorges Dam and Xiluodu Dam in China, Itaipu Dam across the Brazil/Paraguay border, and Guri Dam in Venezuela.[1]
The cost of hydroelectricity is relatively low, making it a competitive source of renewable electricity. The average cost of electricity from a hydro station larger than 10 megawatts is 3 to 5 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour.[1] It is also a flexible source of electricity since the amount produced by the station can be changed up or down very quickly to adapt to changing energy demands. However, damming interrupts the flow of rivers and can harm local ecosystems, and building large dams and reservoirs often involves displacing people and wildlife.[1] Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste, and has a considerably lower output level of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO
2) than fossil fuel powered energy plants.[2]
Geothermal electricity is electricity generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 24 countries,[1] while geothermal heating is in use in 70 countries.[2]
Estimates of the electricity generating potential of geothermal energy vary from 35 to 2,000 GW.[2] Current worldwide installed capacity is 10,715 megawatts (MW), with the largest capacity in the United States (3,086 MW).[3] El Salvador, Kenya, the Philippines, Iceland and Costa Rica generate more than 15 percent of their electricity from geothermal sources.
Geothermal power is considered to be sustainable because the heat extraction is small compared with the Earth's heat content.[4] The life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of geothermal electric stations are on average 45 grams of CO
2 per kilowatt-hour of electricity, or less than 5 percent of that of conventional coal-fired plants.[5]
Wind power or wind energy is the energy extracted from wind using wind turbines to produce electrical power, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping, or sails to propel ships.
Large wind farms consist of hundreds of individual wind turbines which are connected to the electric power transmission network. According to the recent EU analysis for new constructions, onshore wind is an inexpensive source of electricity, competitive with or in many places cheaper than coal,gas or fossil fuel plants.[1][2][3]Offshore wind is steadier and stronger than on land, and offshore farms have less visual impact, but construction and maintenance costs are considerably higher. Small onshore wind farms can feed some energy into the grid or provide electricity to isolated off-grid locations.[4]
Wind power, as an alternative to fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation and uses little land.[5] The effects on the environment are generally less problematic than those from other power sources. As of 2013, Denmark is generating more than a third of its electricity from wind and 83 countries around the world are using wind power to supply the electricity grid.[6][7][8] Wind power capacity has expanded rapidly to 336 GW in June 2014, and wind energy production was around 4% of total worldwide electricity usage, and growing rapidly.[9]
Wind power is very consistent from year to year but has significant variation over shorter time scales. As the proportion of windpower in a region increases, a need to upgrade the grid, and a lowered ability to supplant conventional production can occur.[10][11] Power management techniques such as having excess capacity storage, geographically distributed turbines, dispatchable backing sources, storage such as pumped-storage hydroelectricity, exporting and importing power to neighboring areas or reducing demand when wind production is low, can greatly mitigate these problems.[12] In addition, weather forecasting permits the electricity network to be readied for the predictable variations in production that occur.[13][14] Wind power can be considered a topic in applied eolics.[15]
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the sun harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, solar photovoltaics, solar thermal electricity, solar architecture and artificial photosynthesis.[1][2]
Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.
In 2011, the International Energy Agency said that "the development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase countries’ energy security through reliance on an indigenous, inexhaustible and mostly import-independent resource, enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating climate change, and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence the additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments; they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared".[1]
Hydropower is produced in 150 countries, with the Asia-Pacific region generating 32 percent of global hydropower in 2010. China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 721 terawatt-hours of production in 2010, representing around 17 percent of domestic electricity use. There are now four hydroelectricity stations larger than 10 GW: the Three Gorges Dam and Xiluodu Dam in China, Itaipu Dam across the Brazil/Paraguay border, and Guri Dam in Venezuela.[1]
The cost of hydroelectricity is relatively low, making it a competitive source of renewable electricity. The average cost of electricity from a hydro station larger than 10 megawatts is 3 to 5 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour.[1] It is also a flexible source of electricity since the amount produced by the station can be changed up or down very quickly to adapt to changing energy demands. However, damming interrupts the flow of rivers and can harm local ecosystems, and building large dams and reservoirs often involves displacing people and wildlife.[1] Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste, and has a considerably lower output level of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO
2) than fossil fuel powered energy plants.[2]
Geothermal electricity is electricity generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 24 countries,[1] while geothermal heating is in use in 70 countries.[2]
Estimates of the electricity generating potential of geothermal energy vary from 35 to 2,000 GW.[2] Current worldwide installed capacity is 10,715 megawatts (MW), with the largest capacity in the United States (3,086 MW).[3] El Salvador, Kenya, the Philippines, Iceland and Costa Rica generate more than 15 percent of their electricity from geothermal sources.
Geothermal power is considered to be sustainable because the heat extraction is small compared with the Earth's heat content.[4] The life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of geothermal electric stations are on average 45 grams of CO
2 per kilowatt-hour of electricity, or less than 5 percent of that of conventional coal-fired plants.[5]
Wind power or wind energy is the energy extracted from wind using wind turbines to produce electrical power, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping, or sails to propel ships.
Large wind farms consist of hundreds of individual wind turbines which are connected to the electric power transmission network. According to the recent EU analysis for new constructions, onshore wind is an inexpensive source of electricity, competitive with or in many places cheaper than coal,gas or fossil fuel plants.[1][2][3]Offshore wind is steadier and stronger than on land, and offshore farms have less visual impact, but construction and maintenance costs are considerably higher. Small onshore wind farms can feed some energy into the grid or provide electricity to isolated off-grid locations.[4]
Wind power, as an alternative to fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation and uses little land.[5] The effects on the environment are generally less problematic than those from other power sources. As of 2013, Denmark is generating more than a third of its electricity from wind and 83 countries around the world are using wind power to supply the electricity grid.[6][7][8] Wind power capacity has expanded rapidly to 336 GW in June 2014, and wind energy production was around 4% of total worldwide electricity usage, and growing rapidly.[9]
Wind power is very consistent from year to year but has significant variation over shorter time scales. As the proportion of windpower in a region increases, a need to upgrade the grid, and a lowered ability to supplant conventional production can occur.[10][11] Power management techniques such as having excess capacity storage, geographically distributed turbines, dispatchable backing sources, storage such as pumped-storage hydroelectricity, exporting and importing power to neighboring areas or reducing demand when wind production is low, can greatly mitigate these problems.[12] In addition, weather forecasting permits the electricity network to be readied for the predictable variations in production that occur.[13][14] Wind power can be considered a topic in applied eolics.[15]
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the sun harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, solar photovoltaics, solar thermal electricity, solar architecture and artificial photosynthesis.[1][2]
Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.
In 2011, the International Energy Agency said that "the development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase countries’ energy security through reliance on an indigenous, inexhaustible and mostly import-independent resource, enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating climate change, and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence the additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments; they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared".[1]
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